Spurs boss Pochettino hailed his teenage star as he signed an improved contract , saying: “Today, football is about being versatile. We need to help a player like Dele Alli improve, not put him in a box.

“He needs to feel free on the pitch and we need to help him improve in different positions because a versatile player, like Pogba, has a big, big value.

“He’s a special player. He is box to box but he has real skill on the ball.

“When he plays like a number 10 he makes the movement like a striker and when he plays number eight or number six he plays like a holding midfielder.

Good sign: Dele Alli and Mauricio Pochettino are all smiles after starlet put pen to paper (Image: Getty)

“He is very clever and that’s his best quality. It’s not because he runs a lot, it’s how he reads the game.”

Just six months into his Spurs career Alli, 19, has been rewarded for his rapid progress with a new extended five-year, £25,000-a-week double your money deal, with further incentives.

Mane man: Deli Alli's in the full England side at age 19 with the Euros looming (Image: Michael Regan/Getty)

Last season he was turning out for MK Dons in League One, now Alli has established himself as one of Spurs’ key men, scored five times in 26 games for the club, broken into the England squad and opened his account for his country with a wonder-goal against France in November.

READ MORE:

Pochettino said: “It’s very good news for us and for him. Dele Alli deserves it after the last six months to improve his salary and his contract.

“To achieve the level of the team-mates, now he is and international, plays regularly in first team he deserves all he takes.”

World class: Pogba (gold jacket) and the rest of the FIFA's World XI for 2015 (Image: AFP/Getty)

Harry Kane came off the bench to score an equalising penalty to earn Spurs a replay and 2-2 draw in the Cup on Sunday and on Wednesday he could be going head-to-head with Leicester hotshot Jamie Vardy.

Injury-permitting, the duo should both be on the plane to France for Euro 2016 as part of Roy Hodgson’s England squad.

And Pochettino reckons they could be a strike partnership option for Hodgson and England .